Bird Image: Common Snipe

Camera: Pentax K3

Lens: Pentax 300MM + 1.4 converter = Focal Length 420MM

Exposure: f/5.6   1/640    ISO 200

Location:  Namisato, Kin Town, Okinawa, Japan 

Date and Time:  DEC 29 2015  2:24PM 

Common Snipe (Gallinago gallinago)

Learn more about snipes at ARKive

Wildlife Photo: Tree Sparrow (Passer montanus)

Some sources call this bird the Eurasian Tree Sparrow.

They can be found throughout Europe, Asia, the USSR and even Indonesia.

They are almost wiped-out in the UK but, we have plenty in Okinawa, Japan.

Let me know if the folks over in Europe need any.

If you ask real nice, I may throw a few thousand crows in to boot !

They have all kinds of neat stuff about these birds at ARKive.

When you go over there to learn more they have a gadget you should try.

Turn the volume on your computer, all the way up.

Push the LISTEN TO THIS SPECIES BUTTON

The Cornell LAB of Ornithology has a recording of the Tree Sparrows chirps hooked-up to it.

That way, you'll know if a sparrow is stuck in your engine compartment.

Or, you might have a loose fan belt.

It's nice to know these things !

Wildlife Photo: Striated Heron (Butorides striata)

This bird had me stumped for awhile but, we gotterdun.

It's a Striated Heron, sometimes called Little Heron (Butorides striata).

They eat fish, bugs, frogs, snakes and when they're really hungry, other birds.

Learn more about them at ARKIVE 

 Whenever I get stuck trying to identify wildlife I post a few photos in the ID Forums at

BIRDFORUM

They have experts on everything, not just birds.

You can find snakes, turtles, bats, butterflies, trees, flowers and plants over there.

So what are you waiting for ?

Visit my website for today's Feature Photo 

Get Your Exoskeletons Out of Your Closet !

Have you got any bugs, butterflies, worms or any other kind of exoskeleton photos ?

Did you know something like 97% of the critters on earth are exoskeletons ?

Well, they're having a photo contest to help educate the world about these insects.

Visit the ARKive Blog and they will give you all the information on how to enter.

Even if you don't have a contest winning photo, it could still appear on ARKive.

Just load your critter photos to Flickr and add them to the ARKive Group.

One of my Coconut Crabs got in there that way.

No Flickr Account?  No problem.  Get a Free one here:

     

That way you can get exoskeletons and all your wildlife photos the exposure they deserve.